UEFA Nations League: 3 Things That Make the New Competition Exciting

Other than the major events like the World Cup and the continental championships, International Football remained a mere formality more than a contest. Friendlies were used by national managers to figure out their best playing XI while the qualifiers had only two or three interesting matches per group.The UEFA Nations League is an attempt by UEFA to address those concerns. The footballing body took a long time to think about it, and the result that came out consists of a league format which will have incentives for teams taking it seriously.All European countries are divided into leagues based on their UEFA ranking, so there are fewer chances of matches between two unevenly matched sides which was so often the case with the qualifiers.The tournament replaces international friendly matches during the league campaigns and provides some exciting contests between evenly matched sides. But there are aspects to the format which even the players have not been able to understand. Just like VAR in the 2018 World Cup, this one will take some time to get registered into the minds of the fans.The draw for the 2018/19 Nations League was made in December 2017 and was based on the UEFA national team rankings as they stood at the end of qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup.The teams have been divided into four leagues, each consisting of four groups. The 12 teams in Leagues A and B are divided into four groups of three, the 15 teams in League C are sorted into three groups of four plus one group of three, and the 16 teams in League D are sorted into four groups of four teams.Also Read: UEFA Nations League explainedHere we take a look at what makes UEFA Nations League something different from the boring friendlies:#1 Euro 2020 berth at stakePortugal were the winners of Euro 2016The winners of each group from across the four leagues discussed previously, will progress to the qualifying playoffs that will take place in March 2020. If a group winner has already qualified for the UEFA Euro 2020 then the next best team which has not qualified for the event will get a chance.The major change in scheduling is that the European Championship qualifying will begin in March 2019 and it will allocate Euro 2020 berths to only 20 teams instead of the 24 which were given in the previous edition in 2016.Many would argue that the bigger teams will anyway get through from the qualifying campaign and that’s the exact point UEFA is making by giving the smaller teams a chance through the Nations League.

UEFA Nations League: 3 Things That Make the New Competition Exciting

#2 Fewer one-sided international friendlies